Use Cases

Here you can have a look at a few different use cases where photonics technologies developed at NB-photonics helped solving industrial or research challenges.

Industrial collaborations

World’s first widely tunable hybrid GaSb/Si laser

Brolis Semiconductors develops cutting-edge hybrid GaSb/Si laser sensor technology for next generation wearable and handheld devices. In 2016, Brolis collaborated with the photonics research group of Ghent university and imec to demonstrate the world's first widely tunable hybrid GaSb/Si laser. Following this fruitfull collaboration, Brolis incorporated in 2017 a dedicated R&D location for silicon photonics in Ghent, Belgium. With this R&D center, Brolis is actively pushing a radically new approach for non-invasive healthcare integrated sensors technology. This sensor technology targets the most important blood constituents such as lactates, albumin, glucose and urea. More about this exciting collaboration can be found here.

Research collaborations

Turbidity meter for detecting bacterial growth in blood

This is an on-going collaborative project between NB-Photonics and Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp. In the framework of this project a small, portable, low-cost turbidity meter will be designed, developed and validated. This system will enable the detection of bacterial growth in blood culture bottles by measuring the turbidity of the growth medium.

Continuous monitoring of antibiotic concentration in blood

This is an on-going collaboration between Dept. of Critical Care Medicine, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, University hospital Ghent. The goal of the work is to determine antibiotic concentration in whole blood and/or plasma/serum employing Raman spectroscopy. The first results of the study have been quite promising. Currently two master thesis students have been registered to develop the technology further for this application. A FWO proposal for PhD will also be submitted focusing on the technology development with therapeutic drug monitoring as one of the immediate applications.

Raman spectroscopy of antibacterial coatings for biomedical implants

This is an ideal example of a small request for availing the services of NB-Photonics. In this work, Raman spectroscopy was used for analyzing the chemical composition of antibacterial coatings for biomedical implants. These coatings were deposited using plasma polymerization in the framework of a PhD project between Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry and Department of Applied Physics.

* The results of this study will be included in a journal article.

Wearable blood pressure monitor

This is an ideal example for long term collaboration with NB-Photonics. A FWO proposal was submitted with International Centre for Reproductive Health (ICRH) at the faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The research aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of a smartwatch device to monitor blood pressure, temperature, heartrate and sleep patterns in pregnant women in Belgium. In addition, this research project will develop a predictive tool for classifying women as being at high risk of Hypertensive Disorders of pregnancy (HDP). NB-Photonics will provide advanced technical support in this project.

* The results are awaited in November 2018.

User feedback

"As a microbiologist with a rather technical idea, I consulted NB-Photonics for their advice regarding a project that I had in mind. My idea was welcomed and we ended up writing a pump priming proposal together that was awarded with a second place and funding for one year. I am looking forward to transform my idea into reality with the NB-photonics team in the coming months" Liselotte Hardy, UTLM

"Our research group focuses on improving antibiotic therapy in critically ill patients and is investigating the value of measuring antibiotic concentrations in our patients, real-time and continuous if possible. Although this is uncharted domain and the challenges are huge, the NB Photonics team has been open minded and enthusiastic from the very start. The first results look very promising, and now the concept is taken on with master thesis students developing this further, and a research proposal that will be submitted." prof. Jan De Waele, UZ Ghent.